Osvaldo Orico has divided his energies about equally between popular works on nineteenth-century Brazilian history and works of literary criticism on nearly any subject that came to mind. In the late 1920s he became fascinated with Brazil’s hard fought struggle for unity and order during the Imperial period and rapidly produced three works: O demônio da regência (1930); Evaristo de Veiga e sua época (1932); and O condestável do impêrio (1933), the last a biography of the soldier-statesman Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duque de Caxias. This activity did not prevent his undertaking at the same time a biographical study of José de Patrocínio, now again available in this reprinted version. The present text is based on the enlarged second edition of 1935. It therefore includes the story which he added at that time about the quarrel between Patrocínio and Rui Barbosa over the former’s loyalty to the policies of President Prudente de Moraes.
José de Patrocínio was born on October 9, 1853, the illegitimate son of a mulatto street vender and a prominent clergyman of wealthy fazendeiro origins. Comfortably sheltered by his father until age fourteen when he ran away from home, he was subsequently introduced into Republican and abolitionist circles. The almost black Patrocínio passionately embraced the latter cause, and by the age of thirty he was already a famous abolitionist journalist and orator. The climax of his life came on May 13, 1888, when the Princess-Regent Isabel signed the lei aurea, an act which converted a grateful Patrocínio into a strong supporter of the monarchy and especially of Isabel. Patrocínio lived until 1905, though these remaining years may be regarded as a long decrescendo. He supported the Republic once it was established, though he vigorously opposed the dictatorial regime of Ploriano Peixoto, having to endure arrest and—what was worse— temporary silence for his opposition.
Orico’s study will have some permanent value. He interviewed Patrocínio’s aged widow, other relatives, and friends and incorporates their comments and revelations in the text. He discovered the exact date of Patrocínio’s birth, which had been uncertain. Nevertheless, this book is far from a definitive biography. It is really a biographical essay, more often impressionistic than systematic. Orico cannot write a biography without transforming his subject into a hero; he becomes the wholehearted advocate of his subject’s point of view. Naturally such an approach distorts the treatment of the issues and events which are part of the subject’s life. Slavery is perforce an important matter in O tigre da abolição, but it is presented entirely from Patrocínio’s viewpoint, as simply cruel, degrading, and immoral.
O tigre da abolição, like most of Orico’s work, has serious limitations. Yet there is precious little readily available on Patrocínio, and we are hardly in a position to refuse this flawed offering.